Dashing Through the Snow

 Tim Holtz + Stampers Anonymous Home for Christmas stamp set has all the vintage feels. Especially the vehicle with the Christmas tree on top. I made a Christmas card using this stamp with a twist.

The Base:

Distress watercolour card stock as the base. Distress inks in antique linen + pumice stone, distress oxide in antique linen, spritz with water dying between layers. Next add droplets of distress spritz in antique linen for a nice sparkling finish.

It's all in the Layers:

Alterations texture fade in falling snow has been my go to this year. It adds the right amount of texture to any make. Another go to for me is distress ink walnut stain. It's perfect for blending edges.

I had a 'what if ' moment. Making a wood panel for the side of the car. Using distress wood grain card stock + a blend of distress inks in antique linen, gathered twigs + vintage photo.

Stamp the vintage car twice, masking out the tree. Distress watercolour pencil crayon in aged mahogany for car base, then cut out door panel from wood grain background. Adhere panel to car.

I chose a different tree to place on top of the car from the stamp set Into the Woods, with distress inks in forest moss + vintage photo.

Finishing Touches:

Tim's re-coiling scissors are awesome for fussy cutting, especially being left handed make it easier. Fussy cut the tree, then adhere to top of car. I love the type written font stamps from Home for Christmas. I chose the saying ' dashing through the snow' masked out the word 'snow' then stamped the top portion to the card. The font from Tim's new vault seasonal sketch dies is awesome. Die cut the letters 'S' 'N' 'O' 'W' from Kraft stock classic in red and place them under the saying. 

To complete the card, I machine stitched the border using cream thread.

Hope you enjoyed all the vintage feels and it leaves you feeling inspired.

Christina

Be Thankful

 One of the best ways to clear the mind and make way for creativity is being outdoors. A couple weeks ago I was pruning the landscaping and came across a few dead twigs, leaves and a couple pine cones. Inspiration had kicked in and laid them off to the side. The beauty of dead twigs is that they have character.

Once the inspiration was brewing, I knew there was no stopping, so I gathered dies from Tim's vault 2024 series plus a few older dies and this is what I came up with.

The Base:

Distress watercolour card stock is my go to for smooshing inks, oxides, and with the distress sprayer and my trusty craft heat tool, the possibilities are endless.

Stampers Anonymous cms344 craze and planks, I chose the craze background, is perfect if you want something subtle and gives the illusion of texture.

It's all in the layers:

Tim's/Sizzix 2024 vault series dies and a few older ones are perfect for the twigs/leaves and pinecones.

To achieve a more saturated look with a little depth, the distress reinkers came to the rescue. I love to colour and it's easy to control.

I love the many textures of woodgrain and the variety of colouring that is added for depth and character. I used one of my favourites, 3D lumber embossing folder and blended a few distress inks on top.

To give the woodgrain more dimension, I scribbled a little bit of the distress crayon in frayed burlap on my mixed media glass mat, spritz a little water on top, then with my fingers rubbing the crayon over the crevasses till achieving the desired effect. Kind of reminds me of a five year old, finger painting. It's so fun! 

The finishing touches:

The bow from the thinlits die vintage sled adds the perfect touch to the bouqet of twigs.

Next I grabbed an inked up doily from the vault boutique die set. This was in my stash, and tucked it under the woodgrain plank. I love how elegant the font is from the thinlit set celebration words script. Fits perfectly on the card front.

Next I placed one of the chit chat idea-ology stickers "you" underneath the word "thank" and for the final touch including patience, I machine stitched a border around the card front, taking it slow and trying not to speed like a race car lol. It's hard but doable. Practice makes perfect. 

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and it leaves you feeling inspired.

Christina

 

Condemed

 Getting cracked with Tim's/Sizzix new halloween 3D embossing folder, Cracked. Using stamps from TH/SA cms435 rest in peace and cms328 entomology to make a spooky halloween card.

Starting with the distress two tone wood grain in light grey and using a stamp platform arrange words from rest in peace stamp set onto card stock stamping randomly in archival inks.

Stamp the "skelly" twice on light grey wood grain card stock with black archival ink.

Keep one skeleton off to the side. The other one take the 3D embossing folder in cracked and tap or swipe black archival ink on the top side of folder. Run it through machine.

Using a blending tool, blend distress inks starting with walnut stain then overlapping with black soot.

For the focal point I used the moth from one of my favourite stamp sets cms328 entomology and distress archival ink in black soot.

After watching Tim's latest YouTube live in distress halloween. I discovered the magic of watercolouring with mica stains and decided to use this technique on the moth. You can find Tim's technique here. It's at the 1:33/:11 mark. I modified this technique by stamping in archival ink, then using a water brush and mica stains to color the moth.

Next I fussy cut both moths then overlapping them to create dimension. Adhered the moth to skully with pop ups, then using score tape to adhere to two tone halloween wood grain card stock in black. Machine stitched border in cream thread, it's a little bit rusty as it's been awhile since I've sewed on card stock. Wasn't intentional but certainly adds character to this card.

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and it leaves you feeling inspired.

Christina